JETS Feature Articles & Podcast Archive
Podcasts—JETS E-Week Global Marathon Sessions:
Stragies for Success in Engineering Mathematics and Spatial Visualization Skills
JETS sponsored two E-Week Global Marathon sessions March 23, 2006. The first panel discussion featured spatial visualization skills, why they are critical to success in engineering education and in the profession, and what students with underdeveloped spatial visualization skills can do to enhance them. The second addressed what students, parents, and teachers can do to help students get a solid math foundation and for greater success in a college engineering or related technical program. Click here for session descriptions and podcasts.
Engineering Aptitudes: There's An Engineer in You!
What does it take to be an engineer? The answer may be simpler than you think. Some basic aptitudes combined with interest and a willingness to work at it… and you're there. Click here for an interesting article about what 80 years of research by the Johnson O'Connor Research Foundation says about the aptitudes that may make engineering a great fit for you.
Looking to challenge your logic and problem-solving skills and get a sense of what engineers do everyday? Here’s one participant's experience with JETS TEAMS.
Some science competitions ask you to know everything: What is the pH when you mix .7 liters of acetic acid with .2 liters of sodium hydroxide solution? Which scientist discovered cells by looking at a slice of cork under his microscope? What is the acceleration of this planet, around this star, under this gravitational field, at apogee?
But TEAMS (Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science) has a different aim. Facts are not the issue here. What TEAMS tests is your ability to apply all these different facts and formulas to real engineering questions. This not only focuses the contest on students' logic and problem-solving skills, but also provides students with many examples of the importance of engineering to everyday human life. Click here for the full article.
Adventures of A Future Engineer
by Lizhou Wang
When I first heard about TEAMS, I thought it was a manual construction competition and hesitated to participate. But when I learned that TEAMS focuses on design rather than construction, I was ready to sign up. The problems involve extensive mathematical calculations, application of the laws of physics, analytical writing, and creativity. Most importantly, TEAMS allows for creative application of the knowledge learned in the classroom to real-world problems.
TEAMS problems range from the fantastic, like designing a power station on Mars, to the functional, like designing a car with better fuel economy. And solving even the most apparently imple problems requires finding answers to a set of component problems. Just like real engineers, TEAMS participants must address everything from structural limitations to insufficient funds to questions of safety and quality of life. Click here for the full article.
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